Wash. man plans 500-mile bike ride to thank medics

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — In 2010 Chris Desborough had a heart attack, but he was saved by his wife performing CPR and paramedics shocking his heart back to life.

Today he plans to start a 500-mile bike ride that stretches up into Canada to raise money for Spokane County Fire District 8 as a way of thanking the paramedics who helped save him.

Desborough said he was shocked three times as paramedics fought to get his heart beating again, but he remembers nothing. “I just woke up four days later having the best sleep of my life,” he said. “(My wife) had been a wreck for four days and I was having a giant nap.”

Desborough, 57, had a Medtronic defibrillator and pacemaker implanted in his chest. Now he’s eager to repay his rescuers and has set up a fundraising website at fundrazr.com/campaigns/ 7QVA2.

He leaves at 8 a.m. today from District 8’s Station 84 at 4410 S. Bates Road. His route up to Canada and back is roughly heart shaped, but Desborough said he didn’t plan it that way. “I just sat at Google one night,” he said. “I just followed the road around.”

He hopes to return to the station Wednesday evening. He plans to post about his experiences during his trip on Facebook. People can follow along at www.facebook/com/ chris.desborough.5.